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Police search for driver who fatally struck jaywalking woman in South Adams

January 4, 2010 | 10:22
am

Police are searching for a driver who struck and killed a 62-year-old woman as she crossed a South Adams street.

The driver who hit the jaywalking woman fled the scene, authorities said.

The victim, Annette Marie Carter, was known to have multiple addresses and authorities were checking whether she may have been homeless. Carter was crossing Normandie Avenue, just south of Adams Boulevard, at 11 p.m. Sunday when a dark-colored car heading north hit her.

Carter, who was not crossing at a crosswalk, was pronounced dead at a downtown hospital, authorities said.

The driver will likely face felony hit and run and vehicular manslaughter charges, said Lt. Brian Whitten of the Los Angeles Police Department's South Traffic Division. Had the driver stopped, he said, criminal charges would have been unlikely because Carter was jaywalking.

“If they don’t stop, then it becomes a crime,” Whitten said. “This happens way too often.”

Detectives this morning responded to a call in the LAPD’s Southwest Division about a car with a matching description and front-end damage. Police initially believed the driver may have been the person who struck Carter. But by 9 a.m., they began to rule out that possibility, Whitten said.

Authorities said the car that struck Carter was likely a Toyota Corolla, or a car with similar features. Anyone with information is asked to call LAPD South Traffic Division detectives at (323) 290-6063.